The bodies appear to have been at the location for two to six months. Some of the remains showed signs of torture.

The bodies were found 100 meters north of a previous mass grave, in which 37 bodies were discovered March 27.

“Our enemy continues to show why they will be defeated,” said Maj. Mike Garcia, spokesman for the Coalition unit operating in the area. “The local residents in Diyala have realized that working with Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces is far more beneficial to them then working with an insurgency that uses deplorable tactics like torture and murder to achieve its objectives.”

The graves were discovered in an area formerly controlled by al Qaeda in Iraq until they were pushed out during Operation Raider Harvest earlier this year.